WORLDWIDE DONATIONS FLOOD IN FOR OLYMPIC SOFTBALL CAMPAIGN
ISF President: “She typifies the overwhelming desire young girls worldwide have for our game.”
Plant City, Florida (USA); 9th April 2009: Just like those who participate in the game globally, men, women, boys, and girls of all ages and nationalities are demonstrating their passionate support for BackSoftball, the campaign to get the sport reinstated for the 2016 Olympic Games. As the worldwide efforts have intensified, donations to the campaign have increased both in quantity and in value, with individuals, teams, and companies from around the world contributing to the International Softball Federation’s endeavors to get the International Olympic Committee to put the sport back on the world’s stage when they vote this October at their Session in Denmark.
An large manila envelope received this week from western Pennsylvania containing a letter, photos, and a standard size white envelope bulging with checks totaling over USD $4000 in donations for BackSoftball carried with it the emotion of a story about a young softball player and the true meaning of ‘team.’
Dana Hughes, a high school senior who will begin attending the University of Connecticut later this year on a full softball scholarship, is now two-and-a-half months removed from a terrible car accident that rendered her unconscious for three weeks and claimed the life of her best friend and classmate (Shannon Quail). Hughes sustained several injuries including a life-threatening brain injury.
The crash came as Hughes was making preparations for one part of the graduation requirements for her school’s students, a senior project. Certainly passionate about her sport, she opted to train for and run a half-marathon in an effort to raise money for the ISF’s BackSoftball campaign.
Dana’s teammates stepped forward during those three weeks of unconsciousness and asked if they could complete the project for her. Lisa Tyson, a former softball coach and the senior project mentor to Hughes, sought and obtained the full support of Dana’s parents, and on March 28th, 100 students and friends, family, and faculty members completed “Dana’s Run.” Having made amazing progress and being released from the Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh just nine days earlier (seven weeks sooner than was originally hoped), Dana Hughes was there, just days after having had the surgical staples removed from her head.
Don Porter, the president of the ISF, which is leading the BackSoftball campaign, said, “Dana’s initial desire to help our sport – without our even knowing about it – plus her perseverance that led to an amazing recovery are truly remarkable. We certainly send our heartfelt thanks but also our sincerest wishes that she will be able to come back completely from this most challenging ordeal.
“The way her teammates rallied around her, and then the families, friends, and faculty also getting involved show that dedication must truly emanate from Dana. She typifies the overwhelming desire young girls worldwide have for our game. We get letters, emails, and postings on our website message board from girls around the globe that, personally, are my motivation to do everything to put softball in the best possible position to give girls like Dana and these others the dream of someday playing our sport in the Olympics.”
Softball was first featured in the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 and last year’s competition in Beijing was very successful with a total attendance close to 180,000 and a continuation of the sport’s excellent record of no positive doping tests in women’s international softball since testing began in 1982.
A final decision on which sports will be added to the current roster of 26 at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games will be made at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen in October this year.
Further information is available in the OTHER DOCUMENTS section of www.BackSoftball.com.
For more information please contact ISF Director of Communications Bruce Wawrzyniak at brucew@internationalsoftball.com, +1 813 864 0100 or +1 813 453 8762 or David Alexander at David.Alexander@Calacus.com, +44 7802 412424